Kano NDC senator says Obi, Kwankwaso cannot win 2027 election

Kano Senator Rufa’i Hanga has cast doubt on his party’s presidential ticket, stating that Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso cannot win the 2027 election.

Speculation is mounting that Kano Central District senator, Rufa’i Hanga, a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), is set to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following a meeting with Governor Abba Yusuf . Speaking after the meeting, Hanga cast doubt on his party’s national prospects, stating that the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, cannot win the 2027 presidential election .

Hanga said a critical analysis of the current political situation reveals that Obi nor Kwankwaso do not enjoy the support required for victory in the presidential election. “In the north, Obi has Kwankwaso as running mate, and Kwankwaso is only popular in Kano, and even now, his popularity is 50/50 because previously, while we were in the ADC, we had people in Katsina, Jigawa, and Kaduna, but now we no longer have them because those people refused to join us in the NDC and remain in the ADC. Peter Obi can only win in Anambra and get some percentage of votes in some states in the south,” Hanga stated .

Hanga said the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, stands a better chance of winning in the North-west and North-east geopolitical zones than President Bola Tinubu. He attributed this to dissatisfaction with the current administration, arguing that raging insecurity and President Tinubu’s economic policies are taking away the president’s popularity nationwide .

The senator’s sharp criticism of his own party’s presidential ticket has come as a shock to many political observers, especially given his recent declarations of absolute loyalty to the Kwankwasiyya movement . Insiders revealed that Hanga’s relationship with Kwankwaso soured after the party’s primaries, where he lost his bid for the Kano Central senatorial ticket and was overlooked for the deputy governorship slot .

This echoes the 2022 political realignments ahead of the 2023 elections, when several prominent politicians defected from opposition parties to the APC. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: a weakening of the opposition ahead of the election.

The winners: the APC, which may gain a senator; and President Tinubu, who benefits from a weakened opposition. The losers: the NDC, which loses a senator; and the opposition, which faces fragmentation ahead of the 2027 election.

Bottom Line: A Kano senator says Obi and Kwankwaso cannot win. He is likely joining the APC. The opposition is losing another ally. The 2027 election is still two years away. The realignment has already begun.